by Darrell Waltrip

Updated: August 11, 2007, 1:47 PM EST 39 comments

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It's a great opportunity missed, not just for Marcos, but for road racing and the sport in general. The fact that they teamed up is a great human interest story. Robby took his wrong — costing Marcos a chance to win the race — and tried to make it right. Kudos to Robby for making an attempt to make it up to Marcos. It was the right thing to do.

It reminds me of something, and, folks, just bear with me, because everything reminds me of something that happened in the past. Back in the 1970's at Martinsville, Bobby Allison was racing with Richard Petty, and Allison needed a caution so he spun out Ed Negre to get the yellow flag to wave. In the process, Ed crashed his car. He was an independent owner-driver who worked on his car with his son, Norman, who is still involved in racing and does bodies for different race cars. Ed and Norman had to fix the car, and they didn't have the money to make the repairs.

Bobby stepped up, apologized and said, "That was all me. I wrecked him. I should be the one that helps fix his car." So Bobby paid Ed's repair bill, and I always thought that was very respectable. Ed certainly deserved all the help he could get, and Bobby realized he made a mistake and tried to make it right. That's really all you can do. When drivers do something wrong, I always tell them not to pass the buck. Just stand up and say, "Hey, I made a mistake. I'm sorry. It was all me, and I'll do better next time."

That's really all any driver wants from another driver. It's all any driver wants from NASCAR, and it's all NASCAR wants from a competitor. When you make a mistake, be man enough to say, "Hey, I did that. It's all me, and I take full responsibility." What Robby did with Marcos was pretty cool, and I always remembered and appreciated what Bobby did for Ed Negre, who was a good friend of mine.

Oval vs. road racing

Oval track racing is seat of your pants: you've either got it or you don't. It's hard to teach a guy how to oval-track race. You've got to have track presence and a feel for the car, knowing where you are and what you're doing. Road racing on the other hand is a real skill and technique. Use your heel and toe and catch the gears right. Don't wheel-hop the thing or tear up the gear. Save your brakes entering the corners on late entries with tight apexes. Take away a guys line and stick the nose in there when you can. Road racing is a totally different technique than oval-track racing, and the few guys that ran Montreal will have a real advantage at Watkins Glen because road racing, even though they're Cars of Tomorrow this week.

Top-35 teams are franchises

With rained-out qualifying, there's a lot of talk about what NASCAR needs to do with the top 35, and there's been conversation about franchising. Well, we have franchising. It's just identified differently. Instead of calling it franchising, NASCAR calls it the top 35. Those guys are locked in, and Bobby Ginn proved that his No. 14 team had a lot of value because it was in the top 35. Basically, it's a simple form of franchising, but NASCAR never really wanted to call it by that name.

Road racing is real racing

Road racing is strategy. People say, "Oh, it's no fun anymore. They don't race." Bull! It is fun. It's a strategic race. You've got to know what you're doing. You can't just sit on that pit box and say, "Hey, give me four tires." You've got to figure out your fuel mileage and when to pit. Road racing is sitting on a hot toolbox and sweating ice water. You've got to have a good car, and you've got to figure it all out. You've got to know what you're doing, and you can't take anything for granted.

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You're going to see a race that's very similar to the one the teams ran at Sonoma. The drivers that don't stick to their fuel strategy are going to end up regretting it, and the guys that do — like Juan Pablo Montoya and other at Sonoma — will finish up front. Hopefully, teams learned their lesson. Plus, getting track position is very critical to the outcome of the race.

I love road racing and have six wins on road courses. When the Cup cars returned to Watkins Glen in 1986 after a 21-year break, I sat on the outside pole. Tim Richmond beat me by a little bit for the pole and the win. Watkins Glen is fast and furious. You can see a lot of action at the Bus Stop, which will probably determine the outcome of the race. It's one of the best places to pass, and it's also one of the best wrecking places.

Sunday's race will be exciting, and Busch will have a great run. If he hadn't had a problem with coming to pit road, he could have won last year's race. Robby Gordon is coming off of a good run — not a good result necessarily — in Canada. Expect Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon to run well, throw in Robby Gordon and Kurt Busch, and Junebug might mix it up a little bit. It's going to be a lot of fun to watch. I can't wait.

Oh, by the way

I just came from the Nashville Superspeedway, where the Craftsman Truck Series is getting ready for Saturday night's race on SPEED. My man Josh Wise is behind the wheel this weekend. I walked in and had a little tough talk with him and the boys, and he went to the top of the board. He ended up fourth-fastest in the final practice. They've got a pretty good piece for Saturday night. I'm a big Josh fan. He can get the job done, and I look forward to him getting in the truck as much as possible. Crew chief Jason Overstreet is really excited about Josh. He reminds me a lot of David Reutimann. He's got his dad with him, and they really want to do the trucks right so they can get an opportunity to move up. He has the ability to follow Reutimann, who won there two years ago. Our team always run pretty well at Nashville. If they can get old Josh Wise, a rookie, a win, it will turn around the truck team and get things going in the right direction.